Friday, January 23, 2009

Old Tricks Still Paying Off

As a wife and mother I have followed the wonderful example of my parents of "a penny saved is a penny earned"! It has served my family well to live well within our modest means. We have never felt that we have gone without at any time. Our homes have been comfortable, I have never had to work, everyone has always had the clothing and shoes they needed, we have eaten well, we have never been without a savings, we were able to take a summer vacation every year with our four children, and we very thankfully have no debt.

Looking toward our retirement and the "fixed income" stage of our life I am very thankful for the frugality we have already lived and practiced. The old tricks of shopping the ads, using coupons, living within our means, and getting the most out of the store promotions for cash back, free gas cards, and free gift cards are all still paying off in a big way.

This week a trip to JC Penny netted us nearly $800 in savings while spending under $60. Those dollars purchased two adult ski jackets (value of $320), Four $80 holiday dresses (that we purchased for $5 ea.) for my granddaughters. (they will be birthday gifts throughout the year for the girls dress up box), and another $210 dollars of merchandise to add to the dress up birthday gifts for just $10 bucks!

Today on a trip to the grocery store I saved $84.39 and I spent just $28.30. I have been doing this sort of thing for the last 33 years to help our family get the most out of my husbands hard earned money. Our teamwork has payed off over the years. My husband worked at a job that he really disliked for over 30 years. His sacrifice and hard work gave his family a steady and secure income, great benefits, good hours for family life, and now a nice pension for the rest of our lives. His retirement is well deserved. I won't be retiring from my job which is and has always been to get the most for our money! He is now onboard and is using the old tricks with me. The payoff for us is both fun and a means to living well within our own financial means.

2 comments:

The JC Penny deal was so much fun. I have purchased the holiday dresses in the past for dress up. I have had my eye on certain dresses since Christmas. Just the week before they were all on the clearance racks for $30.00 each. A girl working in the store told me that they would be being marked down to their final clearance price within the week.

The dresses are the reason for my trip along with a promotion of getting one clearance item free with the purchase of another of equal value or less.

You can only imagine the thrill I had when I saw the dresses marked down to $10 and I was going to get one for free too!

My husband and I gleaned the store for great buys on things we needed. Everything was purchased on clearance with the second clearance item for free!

I really only NEEDED one ski jacket but when they are just $15 each why not have a choice of colors!

The grocery shopping trip was just as much fun with my homework being done before going to the store. I searched the Fry's ad for items I use that were on sale with the added bonus of five extra dollars off on every ten purchased. I had cents off coupons that were doubled for almost every item.Many of my items were free and many more I purchased for pennies on the dollar.

It is such a great feeling to look at my well stocked pantry and full freezer and know that everything has been purchased on sale or perhaps for even much less with my ability and willingness to coupon to stretch our family food dollars.

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About Me

I am a fifty something daughter, sister, wife, mother, and event planning granny! I have planned, organized, decorated, catered, and implemented parties, events, conferences, summer camps, grandma camps, festivals, bazaars, luaus, fundraisers, and more. I thrive on details, the special little touches, the challenge, and the thrill of the actual event coming together after all of the planning.